Coffee With Summer

Summer is a Dealer at the new casino I work at now. I first met her on a night shift over a month ago and I barely saw her until this week where we had the same 3 shifts together. She caught my eye right away, very attractive, great skin complexion in the face and she would wear these sexy stockings that would go up to about 3/4 of the way up her thighs. These are the things I found out about her on the few breaks we actually shared together earlier in the week.

Summer

• 23 years old
• Parents are from Saudi Arabia
• Has a Biology degree
• Likes travelling
• Worked at the casino for a year
• Foodie (perfect)
• Hates dry cheese unless melted like on pizza (me too lol)

On our final shift together a couple of nights ago, we happened to have a break together and we were on our own in the staffroom. My instinct was to ask her out on a dinner date. But then I remembered reading a post on WordPress about coffee dating and it’s benefits of it being a casual and inexpensive setting to get to know someone you’re interested in better (I wasn’t bothered about the cost, it was the casual aspect I was interested in). I’m not much of a Starbucks type person but she didn’t know that and the fact that I’m new to the city I could play it off that I didn’t know where the nearest coffee shop was (even though I knew with 5 minute walk of the casino there is at least one Starbucks, Costa and Caffè Nero). So I asked her if she wanted to grab a coffee after our shift finished at 6am. She initially said no because she had another shift to do the next night and didn’t want the caffeine to keep her awake during the day. I said fair enough, we kept chatting anyways about other stuff. 2 minutes before our break finished a moment of genius struck and I said to her that she could get a decaf version of whatever her usual drink is. She agreed and after work we went to Starbucks.

In Starbucks after I ordered my hot chocolate and she ordered her pretentious sounding mocha latte white bullshit (yeah I told her to say what she wanted because there was no way I would remember what to say). When we sat down, in our line of sight was 2 guys sitting on different tables typing away on their laptops which straightaway reminded me of that scene above from an episode of Family Guy. I think our unofficial coffee date lasted under an hour, but I thoroughly enjoyed her company. We talked at first about the casino and I was picking her brain about what she though about working there. Then the conversation just went from here there and everywhere, The World Cup 2018, geography and restaurants (which peaked my interest because now I don’t have Jasmine to try new places with I could do with a new restaurant buddy). We left, swapped Facebook details, hugged a little and went our separate ways. For an unofficial coffee date, it went better and was more enjoyable than most dates I have had in my life.

Now I needed to know how far this would go, even though I would of preferred to ask her out on a date in person I wouldn’t be working a shift with her for at least a week. The impatience got the better of me so without using the word “date” I asked her if we have a day off together soon would you like to go out for dinner? Her reply…

Sure, we will see if we have a day off together, sorry just to say that it will be as friends for now as i do enjoy your company

OK, which 2 words in that sentence do you think has caused me the most grief / confusion? If you guessed “FOR NOW” give yourself a gold star.

Was that a typo and she actually means she wants us to be just friends?

Does it mean she hasn’t made up her mind about me as a viable dating choice?

Is this a way for her to give me the brush off because she only wants to see me only as a work friend and not a friend to socialise with outside of work?

For further clarification besides actually asking her directly like a normal confident person I need to play this out longer. The ball is in her court in regards to going out for a meal on a free day, so if she truly enjoys my company as much as I enjoy hers she should bring it up again. I can’t bring it up again because I would come across as impatient and if there is the slightest chance I could have a shot with her then that chance would disappear as she could rethink her opinion of me.

To be continued…. Or this post to be updated depending on what the answer is.

Why I Moved To London

THE MONEY/ OPPORTUNITIES

That’s the main reason. I’m already earning more money than I ever had and living in a houseshare still works out cheaper than paying all the rent and bills than I paid living in my old flat. I am more determined to save but at the same time throw in a holiday here and there as I want to travel more. The long term goal is to save enough money (5 figure sum) for roughly 3 years to be able to afford a property back home and rent it out to pay off the mortgage on it.

WOMEN

There are nearly 9 million people living in London. So I believe my chances of finding a girlfriend in a city with a populace that size will be greater than back home. I certainly see there are alot more women to choose from on POF when you type in a London postcode. Not that I have had any luck getting a date since I have been down here so far.

WHAT LONDON HAS TO OFFER

Restaurants, night life, pubs, plenty of tourist attractions (Madame Tussauds and the London Eye are currently on my to do list)

GEMMA

If there was ever a post I really couldn’t afford anyone to guess who I was in real life, it would be this one. If you don’t follow my blog (btw you should) Gemma is my best friend (or now my long distance bestie). Although we used to go out with each other on and off 5 years ago and we do generally get on better as friends, sometimes the line is blurry. We could both be feeling lonely and just cuddle and kiss here and there. I mean I used to like it, I don’t hate it but I feel that people still thought of us as a couple. We do argue still and if in public we have had friends say we act like an old married couple.

I do care about her but in the past few months we keep rehashing old arguments especially about our relationship history. It’s a case of her having a memory specifically designed to remember stuff I barely remember or don’t even recall at all. The only thing really she does that pisses me off into an argument is if she mentions her friendship with the guy she cheated on me with in the first place, I’m sick of her still thinking it’s OK to talk about him. Infact the next time she says his name, I will immediately shut her down whether that turns into an argument or not I don’t care. She says to me she feels like she can’t say what she wants without me losing my shit. I lose my shit and I naturally get defensive if someone says to me about me that isn’t 100% true, I just have this need to always explain myself. So I have learnt (just about) to let her finish whatever she says; take a deep breath and I will say my piece.

In the past 2 months since I moved down to London, we have messaged each other a few times on Facebook. But there have been 2 instances where she has said things that I fully well know would trigger me into an argument. I don’t know if it’s because I’m nearly 200 miles away from her or because it’s written in text rather than a verbal exchange but I have decided to ignore both of them and move the conversation along. I doubt she’s doing them on purpose, but then again a small part of me wouldn’t put it past her. But she is still my bestfriend and I know this rant makes it out like I hate her guts but I don’t, I’m just sick of this bullshit repeating over and over and I dont have anyone really I can vent this all out to.

My New Life In London

Alot has happened since my last post. But let’s go back to the last couple of weeks in March and I’ll give a summary account of how I was working as a Dealer in a small provincial casino with only 8 months experience in the industry earning OK money and crap tips to being offered a Dealer job at a London casino with a higher salary and better tips….. Not to mention relocating there moving almost 200 miles away from my hometown, my family and friends.

Updated my CV on Indeed. Searched casino dealer jobs in London because of the higher wages, despite the obvious higher costs of living. 3 jobs came up and I applied for all 3 seeing as I had nothing to lose. 3 hours later I get an email from one of them offering me an interview and a table test 2 days later (thankfully by chance that landed on a day off).

Got down to London and eventually found the casino despite nearly getting lost on the tube. Had the interview with one of the duty managers, got asked standard competency questions. Then had the table test, dealt a few hands of blackjack with pretend bets that are higher than what I am used to but I got on with it fairly well. Then I started dealing roulette with pretend bets again higher than what I am used to but I did make a few mistakes. They said they would get back to me within a few days. The next day I get the call offering me the job and the salary of £21,000 per year plus tips.

Awesome I’m chuffed but now with the start date they had given me I had 2 weeks to quit my old job, move out of my flat and find somewhere new to live in London. That was stressful. I handed in a weeks notice at my old job and my former GM wished me the best of luck. One of my other duty managers gave me contact details of a guy called Bill who used to work at my former casino but moved down to London a few years ago. Added him on Facebook, had a good chat about what it’s like down there and he mentioned to me he has a friend who is working at the same casino I was due to start in and that tips per month averaged between £300-400+ a month. Excellent so now that means I can expect to be earning roughly £24,600 – £25,800 per year now (Minimum £6,500 more than what I was currently earning) and if I could find a place cheap enough down there it would be worth the move as it would be the highest paying job I have ever had to date.

Accommodation… London is expensive!!!!!!! There’s no way I could even afford to live in central London, and the cheapest one studio apartment I could rent out within a reasonable travelling distance by tube or bus would be £1000. Now with bills and travelling costs factored into it I would have less money to myself for the remainder of the month than I did in my own hometown and former job where my rent on a proper 1 bedroom flat is half that. I had to swallow my pride and find myself a houseshare. Good news is there’s no shortage of rooms available in London and for extra security and piece of mind I made sure I went with a letting agent. With all my preferences of budget, location regarding work and amenities and room / house furnishings taken into account I eventually found a room in a house in East London for £580 a month (all bills included). The room itself isn’t quite special (compared to other houseshares I have lived in the past, it’s not the biggest or the smallest room) but it’s reasonable for the price. I nearly lost out on it because these days letting agents require so much paper work and proof of identity and income because of immigration laws and apparently if you don’t pass the checks and they take you on as a tenant in any of their properties then they could be fined £20,000.

My old flat. Unfortunately I had to lose a months rent because in my tenancy agreement which I didn’t read I need to give 30 days notice when moving out. But I left on good terms with the letting agent I had dealt with for the past 5 years and he was happy with the condition I left the flat in on moving out day so I was refunded my full deposit.

My last night in my old hometown I organised a little leaving drinks do with friends and a couple of people who I had become friends with from my old casino. It was a good night. Gemma and Jasmine couldn’t make it so the 3 of us went out for a meal earlier that week. I will miss them both, not having my best friend and my restaurant buddy a bus ride away will be a little bit difficult. But Jasmine is already promising me to visit and we can try out London places together though since I have been down here I have only eaten out once.

Moving in day was “Fun”. My mum and her partner Walt helped me move down with both of their cars full of my stuff. Moving out of my old place was fun too, I had a couple of my former neighbours moaning at me for the noise I was making moving the heavy wooden furniture lol. I got my keys and signed on the dotted line with my new letting agent. My room didn’t come with alot of floor space to begin with and now I have even less lol. It’s been nearly 2 months now since I moved down to London. For the most part it has been an exciting change, there have been times where I have been pissed off and under pressure but the positives outweigh the negatives. For me this move has only been about making good money and doing something useful with it for once in my life.